PMQs live: Starmer accused of ‘playing politics’ over Waspi women payout decision amid growing backlash

Mrs. Badenoch used most of her questions to make Mr. She persuaded Starmer to pay for fuel for the winter and the government’s attitude towards pensioners.

“We’ve had to make tough decisions,” Starmer told the Tory leader in a heated exchange, in which he accused the Tories of leaving Labor with a financial black hole.

The labor stabilization of the economy allowed them to commit to the triple lock, he added.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Labor ministers had “played politics with Waspi women for years” but now admit the Conservatives “were right”.

She asks how many eligible pensioners are not claiming Pension Credit – and Sir Keir Starmer replies that the Conservative government’s record is that people have not applied

He adds that pensions will rise due to the triple lock and says pensioners would be “worse off under a Tory government”.

Sir Keir Starmer will be grilled at Prime Minister’s Questions as opposition and Labor MPs fume over denial of compensation for Waspi women.

PMQs will start at 12pm and Sir Keir will seek to defend the government’s decision.

Stay here for all the latest updates.

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of betraying women affected by changes to the state pension age after using them to vote.

The Prime Minister came under fire on Wednesday after Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall rejected calls for compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 for the 3.8 million affected individuals.

Homelessness Minister Rushanara Ali was sent to defend the government’s decision but faced a scathing interview with Sky News in which presenter Kay Burley said Labor had made “repeated promises” to affected women ahead of the general election.

Political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:

Wasp spokeswoman Debbie de Spon questioned whether the government’s rejection of the ombudsman’s decision was democratic.

Labor rejected a ruling by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) which recommended compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 for women affected.

“If there’s no mechanism for people to complain and get real justice, well, is that a democracy?” spokeswoman Debbie de Spon said.

“There’s a whole constitutional issue here, apart from the fact that 3.6 million Waspi women are feeling extremely angry this morning.

“It’s a far, far deeper thing. If we all don’t watch out, what’s next? If you tolerate this then your children will be next, as they say.”

Wasp spokeswoman Debbie de Spon was asked for her views on Labor ministers who once supported her campaign.

“It seems okay to change your point of view by fiddling with the numbers, justifying it by using numbers that just aren’t right.

“We expected the Labor government to offer something different, because they said they were the party for change, and we had 14 years of a Conservative government that deliberately pushed the Waspi issue under the rug for as long as possible.

“We definitely thought Labor could deliver the change they were looking for, but obviously it only changed for certain things and certain people.

“Somehow, women who were born back then in the 1950s and are now retired are not worth considering.”

There is “raw anger” among Waspi campaigners and supporters after the government decided not to compensate for state pension changes.

“It was a shock and a huge disappointment,” campaign spokeswoman Debbie de Spon told Waspi The Independent.

“Well, disappointment is putting it mildly. It is a shock and we are devastated. But that means we have to make our point more clearly.

“There is raw anger [on Facebook] understandable. As a campaign we rise up and face it. We have to look at what Liz Kendall said and we have to approach it appropriately,” Ms de Spon added.

The government’s claim that 90 per cent of women knew about the upcoming state pension changes was “simply not true”, a spokesman for the Waspi campaign said.

I’m talking to The Independent, Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign communications director Debbie de Spon said: “One of the reasons Liz Kendall used… she claimed 90 per cent of women know, which is simply not true.”

“And if you read the ombudsman’s report carefully, you will see that this is not true. What the ombudsman concluded from the research is that three out of five women did not know that their state pension age was being increased.

“She’s just using one number from a group of numbers. She stuck with it because it’s the biggest number. But that does not represent the truth.

“We will seek legal advice on this as it makes no sense to us.”